Saturday, February 3, 2018

It's release day for 'Searching for My Killer'!

My name is Tonio, and
I'm a ghost. I want to, need to, find out who killed me so I can move
on. The problem is, I have no idea how to do so. Or I didn't, until
Brody and Jon showed up. They're ghosts, too, and they know Mike, a
police detective, and Sage, a medium who can speak with the dead.

With
their help, and mine, will it be possible for Mike to find out who
pushed me off the lighting bridge at the theater where I worked? At the
same time, can I come to grips with the fact that, in death, I've lost
David, an actor at the theater and the one man I ever loved?

EXCERPT:

"I think he could use our help."

The
words penetrated my foggy mind. I opened my eyes to early morning
sunshine and knew I must have slept, which surprised me. What surprised
me even more were the two men I saw a few feet away, looking directly at
me. Okay, not precisely men, I realized. I could see the roof through
them, hazy but there.

"You ... you're ghosts, too?" I asked, afraid they were, at the same time I was praying they were.

"Yep,"
the older one replied. He was wearing worn jeans and a muscle shirt.
The younger one had on jeans, too, but a nicer pair, plus a T-shirt
under a plain blue work shirt. "Name's Brody," the older on said. "This
is Jon." He put his arm around the shoulders of the younger ghost.

"I'm Tonio," I told them, getting to my feet.

"How long dead?" Brody asked.

"Two and a half days or so, since today's the fourteenth, I think."

Brody studied me. "How did you get up here?"

"On the roof? I sort of floated up. Why?"

Brody glanced at Jon then back at me. "Interesting. Just like that?"

"Sure. Why?"

Jon chuckled. "Brody had to teach me how to go through walls and floors -- by example, since I didn't think I could."

"I
got the idea I could when I came to, I guess you could call it,
floating a couple of feet above where I died. I went down, started to go
through the floor and managed to stop before I was in the basement.
When I tried to leave the stage by one of the doors in the wings and
couldn't open it, I figured maybe I could go through it. It worked." I
studied them before asking, "Why are you here? Did you die in the
theater, sometime in the past?"

Brody snorted. "Not even close. I
was killed on the streets, by a drug dealer, almost six years ago while
I was working undercover. It took five years to find out it was him and
prove it."

I frowned. "Then why are you still around, if you know who did it?"

"Because Jon is. We've never discovered who killed him. We have our suspicions, but in his case, no proof one way or the other."

"You mean we have a choice whether to move on or not?"

"Once
ghosts know why they died, who caused it, and, as I said, the proof
they need, then most of them want to get out of this world and on to
wherever they're supposed to end up."

"And then there's Brody," Jon said, smiling at him.

"Are you two a couple?" I asked.

Brody
replied, "Not the way you probably mean it. Sex is not an option for
ghosts, for whatever reason. My guess is, it takes blood flow to get it
up, and since we don't have blood ..." He shrugged.

"We're a couple in every other way, though," Jon added.

"At
least you've got each other," I replied morosely. "Wait a second. If
neither of you were killed here, how come you are here? I thought ghosts
had to stay where they died. Like they're stuck there. I know I can't
leave the theater grounds. I tried, and ended up back where they found
my body."

"Really? Hmm." Brody seemed puzzled. "I have no clue
why that happened. Jon had no problem leaving the area where he was
killed. Neither did I."

"I wonder." Jon looked pensive. "We were
both killed outside, Brody. From what Tonio said, he was in the theater
when he died. Could that be it?"

"God, I hope not," I said
angrily. "I don't want to spend the rest of my existence here, if I
can't figure out who pushed me off the bridge."

Jon cocked his head. "The bridge?"

"It's the walkway above the stage where the lights are hung for shows. Think of a catwalk, if you want a visual."

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About Me

Born and bred Cleveland, I earned a degree in technical theater, later switched to costuming, and headed to NYC. Finally seeing the futility of trying to become rich and famous in the Big Apple, I joined VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America), ending up in Chicago for three years. Then it was on to Denver where I put down roots and worked as a costume designer until just recently.
I began writing five years ago after joining an on-line fanfic group. Two friends and I then started a group for writers where they may post any story they wish no matter the genre or content. Since then, for the last two years, I’ve been writing for publication. Most, but not all, of my work is m/m, either mildly erotic or purely ‘romantic’, and more often than not it involves a mystery or covert operations.